Cold Heritage: The Gold Chronicles Book 4
by CJ Moliere
Summary: A year after defeating Pan, Rumplestiltskin's cousins DG and Azkadellia arrive from Oz to reunite with their long lost family member to heal the wounds of the past and ask for his help to stop a threat to all the realms and break a centuries old curse. Crossover with the SyFy Miniseries Tin Man.


**~ Prologue: The Prophecy of the Double Eclipse ~**

**Author's Notes: Cold Heritage was originally published in 2012 under the name Kristen Sardonne. I was not happy with the original version so I took it down and rewrote it. It is now a crossover with Once Upon a Time. For those who are reading my AU Gold Chronicles Series in OUAT, the events in this chapter are spoilers for the first book, The Heart of Everything. This also contains spoilers for episode 3 of Tin Man and episode 3-11 of Once Upon a Time. **

_The majestic queen of the OZ_

_Had two lovely daughters she_

_One to darkness she be drawn_

_One to light she be shown_

_Double eclipse it is forseen_

_Light meets dark in the stillness between_

_But only one and one alone_

_Shall hold the emerald and take the throne..._

Oz (The Outer Zone)

Standing on a platform in the center of her tower and in possession of the body of the Princess Azkadellia Ozopov, the dark witch Bastinda looked up in the sky to see the two suns of the OZ about to lock behind the moon and darkness fell over the land, held in place by the emerald holding the last of the life force and magic of their world's goddess, Lurline. Only one of her descendants could control it which was why Bastinda had taken possession of Azkadellia. The girl fought her possession for years but through fear and manipulation, Bastinda finally broke the girl until she no longer had the will left to fight and the OZ was now hers. The former queen of the OZ had hidden away the other daughter, Dorothia, also known as DG in the hopes that she would foil Bastinda's plans but the girl was no more of a match for her than her sister was. There was now only one person left who could defeat her; the last Strogoff, cousin to the Ozopov clan but he was now on the other side, stripped of his memories and his powers through a curse cast by his own design. She did not fear Rumplestiltskin. He was as trapped by his own darkness as she was in her own and he would never sacrifice it for anything. The OZ was hers. The Ozopovs and the Strogoffs would at last destroy each other, just as she'd cursed them to do centuries ago.

Several floors below, the former Tin Man Wyatt Cain, the royal advisor Ambrose, known as Glitch, the princesses magic tutor Toto and the seer Raw launched an attack on the main control room of the machine that was aiding in focusing the power of the emerald on the eclipse to lock it in place. Their objective was to reconnect Ambrose to his missing brain and recall how he designed the machine for a better purpose, but more specifically, how to shut it down as his brain was being used to control it.

Wyatt kicked open the door to the brain room. As Glitch gazed at the missing piece of him he cherished so much he smiled.

"I'd recognize me anywhere."

He stepped up to the glass case wishing he could just reach inside it, take his brain out and return it to its rightful place but he knew it couldn't be done now.

"Glitch, it's time to get reacquainted with yourself," Wyatt said softly. "Connect him to it," he commanded Raw.

Raw placed one hand on the glass and the other to the side of his friend's head. Memories began to flash through his mind, his work as the advisor, his family, his friends...Azkadellia...their daughter.

_Amber...my precious little girl. Our precious little girl. We're trying to get mommy back, baby._

"All right, Glitch, I need you to remember something for me," Wyatt said to keep him focused. "Glitch, can you hear me?"

"My name isn't Glitch. It's Ambrose," he corrected softly.

"Okay, Ambrose. I need you to remember how you designed the sun seeder and how to shut it down."

"Do you see the keyboard numbers that control the light pulsing?"

Wyatt glanced down at the keyboard. There was so many. "Yeah...about a million of 'em. Which ones do I turn off?"

"Proper shut down sequencing to light pulsing is imperative!" Ambrose snapped.

_Well I'm not a genius Zipperhead! Damn, I think I liked you better when you didn't hook up to your brain. Now you sound like you have a huge stick up your ass_! "Okay but which numbers?" Wyatt asked, frustrated.

As Ambrose recited the numbers, Wyatt typed them out on the keyboard and pulled back the small handle. He could hear the machine slowing down as it responded.

"What's causing the trouble?" Bastinda's royal guard commander Vy-Sor demanded as he and the alchemist noticed that the gauges were showing low power readings.

"A power surging in the brain cortex. Some kind of synapse interference," the alchemist answered and approached a guard. "Get Kalm. You two, come with me," he ordered another pair of troops.

Now on the balcony DG stood face to face with the witch trapped in her sister's body.

"Azkadellia!" she called to her sister, hoping that her sister's light would be strong enough to break through and hear her. "There's still time to stop this!"

"Look up!" Bastinda commanded. "The power of the emerald is about to lock the double eclipse in the sky and bring permanent darkness to the OZ. A fierce new world is awakening!" she declared. "And I will bring everyone in this realm to their knees while you and the rest of your bloodline will destroy yourselves."

"No! Listen to me _my sister_!" DG pleaded. "This is not what you want, remember who you _are_!"

"Your sister is dead," the witch sneered.

"No," DG insisted as she moved toward the platform. Bastinda sent a powerful wave of dark light out at her, tossing her over the balcony. DG reached out with her light and made her hands large enough to grip the railing but she was finding it difficult to pull herself back up.

Out of the corner of his eye Tutor could see the alchemist heading toward the brain room with the viewer Kalm and some Longcoats. He shifted into dog form and crept up behind them, hitting one of them and grabbing his gun, shooting the other with the gun he'd taken. The alchemist zapped him with the electric prod. He fell to the floor unconscious and shifted back into dog form.

Wyatt watched as the power showing on the gauges in front of them decreased. "I think its working!" Ambrose called out another number.

Seeing the light dimming sent Bastinda into a rage. "Why are we losing power!" she growled.

"Synapse interference," Vy-Sor answered.

"Get it fixed, NOW!" she ordered.

"We're working on it!" he cried.

"Work faster!"

She focused with her magic and saw an image of Ambrose standing in front of his brain, connected to it by the viewer Raw and Wyatt Cain controlling the keyboard.

Wyatt was laughing. They were almost there...

"And the last number.."

"Yeah.."

"To reverse light pulsing..."

"Yeah!"

_Come on just give it to me, we're almost there!_

The door burst open and Wyatt felt an electrical charge strike his right shoulder blade. He groaned and fell to the floor. Another charge threw Raw against a wall while one of the Longcoats grabbed Ambrose.

"One more and it will be your last," the alchemist threatened.

Wyatt slowly got to his feet, the electrical pulse surging through his body. He drew his pistol, ready to aim. A Longcoat fired his gun, the bullet striking Wyatt in the shoulder and tossing him into the hallway.

"No, don't fire your weapon in here! Kalm, tell me what they did in here and how to fix it!" the alchemist commanded the frightened young viewer, shocking him when he hesitated. As he started reciting the numbers, Ambrose attempted to interrupt him by reciting the wrong ones. "Shut him up!"

A hand was clapped over Ambrose's mouth, silencing him while Wyatt and Raw lay unconscious on the floor.

DG closed her eyes and reached out with her light to Wyatt, feeling his strength merge with hers. Along with the strength she felt another sensation...intense pain, her heart beating faster with fear. Her bondmate was injured. She started to climb.

_I have to stop this now!_

"Finally," Bastinda whispered. "Permanent darkness. It's over. I won."

_"Two little princesses dancing in a row_

_Spinning fast and free on their little toes_

_Where the light will take you no one ever knows_

_Two little princesses dancing in a row.."_

DG climbed back onto the balcony and looked up at the witch, seeking out her sister's light with her own fueled by love, calling to her again.

"Do you remember that time at the cave and you remembered what all those symbols meant?" she asked through her tears. "You were so smart."

_It's the picture language of the ancients..._

From inside the prison the witch created for her in her mind, Azkadellia could hear her own childhood voice calling to her along with her sister's. She pushed with her own light against the lock but it still wasn't strong enough.

"Your adventures have a way of getting me into trouble. That's what you said. You said your adventures have a way of getting me into trouble..." DG sobbed. "And do you remember my spinning doll and how we made it fly together? Concentrate!"

Azkadellia closed her own eyes and could see the two of them together, hands joined, the light flowing between them.

"And do you remember the bear?" DG went on. "How scary it was and you stood up. You were so brave and it made me brave!"

_Just hold my hand Deege! Nothing can hurt us if we stay together!_

Azkadellia pushed again, this time her light was stronger. She could feel the witch's hold weakening.

DG held out her hand. "Hold my hand. Nothing can hurt us if we're together," she said softly. "Take it. Take it!" she pleaded. "Take my hand!"

_Help me Deege, I'm trying so hard and she keeps pushing me back...stay strong for me. It's the only way..._

"I'm scared..." DG suddenly heard her sister's voice repeat the very same words she'd uttered years before that got them all into this mess and she'd be damned if she was going to be afraid again.

"I'm here and I'll never run away again. Take my hand!"

"No! You're talking to the wind girl!" the witch snarled.

_Come back to me Az. Come back to us. We love you. She can't hurt you anymore._

"Take my hand," DG begged again.

_Final eclipse it is forseen _

_Light meets dark in the stillness between _

_The darkest of curses by a Strogoff was taken _

_And through his sacrifice in the names of those he loves_

_The curse by a Strogoff shall be broken..._

Storybrooke, Maine

The same day

A group of people stood in the middle of the street, frozen through a spell cast by Peter Pan, the dark sorcerer of Neverland who was once known as Malcolm, the father of Rumplestiltskin; the Dark One, and the most powerful sorcerer in all the realms. Pan cast a curse on the small town that would once again make time stop and all of its inhabitants with the exceptions of three of them, lose their memories and become his slaves. The three he excluded, he would take their lives because of their closeness to Rumplestiltskin. Now the Dark One would have to make a choice: sacrifice himself and his dark powers in the names of his son, his grandson and his true love or prove himself a coward and choose his power.

"Look at you all. A captive audience. I could play with you like a pack of dogs, couldn't I? I think I'll start with these two." Pan taunted as he stood before Rumple's son Baelfire and young woman he loved, Belle. His third target was Henry, Baelfire's son, being protected by his adoptive mother. "Hmm. You both look so adorable. Hard to tell who to kill first. No, it isn't. You. You first. " He pointed at Baelfire.

In his pawn shop Rumplestiltskin, rose to his feet and tossed the sword away and walked outside, ready to face the evil inside himself and the one that called himself his father as a mortal man who had the strongest magic of all on his side, the power of his love for his family.

"Stay away from them!" Rumple hissed, pulling his father back.

"How about this? The worm has teeth," Pan taunted. "What, are you here to protect your wuved ones?"

"I'm not gonna let you touch either one of them."

"Oh, I'd like to see that."

"Oh, you will. Because I have a job to finish, and I have to do whatever it takes. _No loopholes._ And what needs to be done has a price. A price I'm finally willing to pay. I used the curse to find you, Bae, to tell you I made a mistake. To make sure you had a chance at happiness. And that happiness is possible. Just not with me. I accept that." Rumple said sadly to his precious son, for whose loved he'd taken the Dark One curse.

"Pretty, pretty words," Pan sneered

"I love you, Bae. And I carry a part of you with me...just as part of me will always be with you..." Rumple went on.

"Oh don't worry. You'll be reunited...in death."

"And I love you Belle," Rumple said to his true love. "I never thought I could love that way again until that day I came to your father's castle. You saw both sides of me and even when I gave you plenty of reasons to walk out of my life, you always came back. I _will_ see you again...just not in this life as we hoped and I'll wait for you...in the next one. You made me stronger, strong enough that I now know what I have to do and can do it...without fear anymore." Now he looked over at his grandson. "You all have. By believing in me even when I no longer believed in myself."

On this day four people would face their destinies. Two sisters and a father and son and the victors in this battle would only be those strongest of heart.


End file.
